


Far From Home

by missobsessed22, NKNovak



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Circus, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Human, Mermaids, Sirens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-26
Packaged: 2019-10-05 04:00:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17317700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missobsessed22/pseuds/missobsessed22, https://archiveofourown.org/users/NKNovak/pseuds/NKNovak
Summary: Far under the sea, hidden from fisherman and marine biologists, live creatures like mermaids and sirens. Despite how hidden they try to be some mermaids still have been caught by humans. However, the sirens, who see themselves as protectors of mermaids, always make sure those ships never make it back to shore. So, no one had ever seen a mermaid, no one had proof they existed.Until. . .





	1. Chapter One

Far under the sea, hidden from fisherman and marine biologists, live creatures like mermaids and sirens. Despite how hidden they try to be some mermaids still have been caught by humans. However, the sirens, who see themselves as protectors of mermaids, always make sure those ships never make it back to shore. So, no one had ever seen a mermaid, no one had proof they existed.

Deanna and Sam were two sirens. They were siblings and bounty hunters, they could find anyone, mermaid or siren, for the right price. They mostly helped bring lost mermaid back to their city or sink ships so new sirens (formerly human woman) could get their revenge, although the later had become much less common as the centuries past and having a woman on board a ship was no longer consider unlucky.

Tonight, Deanna and Sam were heading home. They had just helped a young mermaid who'd got lost in the big open ocean find his way back home, saving him from a shark in the process. They decided the spend the night relaxing and go looking for another job tomorrow. That is until a mermaid stopped them in their tracks. "I want to hire you"  
"Hire us?" Deanna asked, "What happened?”  
"My daughter went missing." Rose said. "I know she was capture by some human. I know it!"  
"So you want us to go disguise ourselves among the humans and go find this little mermaid who swam too close to the humans?"  
"Exactly"  
Sam looked from Deanna to the woman and back to Deanna. "Um, excuse me, can I talk to my sister privately for a minute?"  
"Yeah, sure" Rose replied, swimming backwards a bit.  
Sam and Deanna turned around, so they weren't facing Rose "You not seriously considering taking this job, are you?"  
"Why shouldn't I?" Deanna asked Sam "we could make some serious money off of this job, and all we have to do is charm and murder every human that gets in our way of finding this dumbass mermaid! It's the perfect job!"  
"We know nothing about human except that they eat fish! We're part fish!"  
"You know, dear brother, we can disguise ourselves among them. It’s not the first time a siren or mermaid has done so."  
"All, those tales of mermaids walking on lad are just tales, we’ve never done that, we're going to stick out, I can feel it. We don't even know how to walk"  
"We'll learn. Sammy, we would be idiots to not take this job"  
". . . Fine" Sam relented.  
"Yes! Okay good, glad you see it my way" Deanna said before they turned back to Rose "Okay, we'll find your daughter. We need a description of her and a name"  
Rose told them Castielle's name, nicknames, and described her in detail. "She doesn't speak a single human language” Rose added, “only enochian and dolphin" Enochian being the name of the mermaid and siren shared language. Then Rose continued “she's all I have, it's always been just me and Cas"  
"I'll make sure we find her, Rose" Sam assured Rose gently "your daughter will make it home to you safe and sound”  
"Thank you, both of you"  
"Leave us your address and go home, we'll bring your daughter to you when we get her back"  
Rose told the hunters her address before returning home.

It took longer than they anticipated to learn how to walk. Not only was it learning how to move using one leg at a time, every now and then they'd forget and fall when they tried to move to legs at once like they'd do when they only had one tail, but gravity was also different. In the water they'd felt a lot lighter than on land. There was no floating, just the feeling of an unseen force pulling you down.  
After Deanna had fallen another time she looked up at her brother with a smirk and spoke for the first time in a while (Of course Deanna “spoke” underwater but mermaids and siren mostly communicated telepathically). "This mermaid better be cute."  
Sam shook his head. "Let's just try to get some clothes. . . And not stand out any more than we do"  
"Just don't start speaking Enochian out of nowhere and we'll be fine"  
"It's a good thing we taught ourselves some human languages"  
"Well we wouldn't be very effective sirens if we didn't"  
"Honestly, I think we could be speaking gibberish and we'd still attract the sailors with our voices and looks"  
"You're right, sailors just can't help themselves around a half fish with big boobs"  
"Or none, in your case"  
"Hey, you bitch, I have boobs!"  
"Sure you do" Sam smirked. "Let's get some clothes"  
Deanna grumbled something angrily under her breath as they went to go steal some clothes from some nearby beach goers and then started off on their mission.

Meanwhile, Crowley, the owner or Hell’s circus and freakshow, frowned. He had recently procured a mermaid, a real mermaid, but it would not listen to a thing he said, he wasn’t even sure if it knew what he was saying.  
"Crowley" Meg, an animal tamer who worked with animals like Tiger and Lions, said. "You have an actual mermaid. Who the hell cares if she does tricks or not?"  
"I care! These people don't come to just look at these things, they want to see creatures do cool tricks" Crowley said, smacking on the glass of the tank which startled the creature and caused her to cower in the corner of her tank, even less cooperative than before.  
"You're doing it wrong. You barley know how to work with people, you have no idea how to work with animals”  
"Well can you get her to do something other than just sit there? It's going to give this show a bad rep if our creatures don't live up to expectation"  
"I don't know. I work with big cats, never sea creatures but I can give it a shot"  
"Do whatever you need to do to make her listen and obey"  
Meg sighed. "Hey" Meg said putting her hand gently against the glass "My name is Meg"  
The mermaid looked at Meg gently but then looked back at Crowley with disdain. She wanted him gone but didn't know how to communicate that.  
Meg followed her eyes over to Crowley. "I think you should go, she doesn't like you"  
"Are you kidding me?! Ugh fine, I have to go check on the other acts anyway" Crowley said before he left.  
The mermaid watched him leave and then slowly swam up to Meg, placing her hand against the glass.  
"My name is Meg"  
The mermaid tried to communicate with Meg but the human language and way of communicating was still foreign to her.  
"I can't understand you and I'm sure you can't understand me" Meg said taking a step back. "But like all my animals you'll learn to understand this sound" Meg said cracking her whip.  
The mermaid looked at the whip, very frightened, and backed away again. She didn't want to get hurt, she didn't even want to be here!  
"I'm not going to hurt you, and I know it's not a pleasant sound, but you'll get used to it."

Deanna and Sam were looking around for clues on where Rose’s daughter could be, now seeming to walk with ease. “I’m finally getting the hang of this whole walking around on two legs thing.”  
"Well I'm glad you're getting a handle on it. You were having a lot of trouble when we started" Sam said as he looked over some newspaper ads. "I've been reading up about attractions in the past week, and I read about this thing called Hell's Circus, it had a bunch of creatures and acts that are unusual to humans. They just did their last show yesterday and are headed out of town. I bet they have Castielle, we should follow where they're going"  
"You sure?" Deanna asked. "Could just be some poor circus trying to drum up business by lying"  
"If it turns out to be a bust we start from square one and come back here, but it could be something, it says the circus is going to a place called Sacramento, CA"  
"And that is. . ."  
"I have no idea. We have to ask someone"  
Deanna shrugged "Alright" she stopped a random person on the street taping them on the shoulder. "Excuse me?"  
"Yes, how can I help you?" The guy asked when he turned around, immediately looking Deanna up and down.  
"Do you know where Sacramento, CA is?"  
"Uh yeah, you're a good 7 hours away from Sacramento"  
"Can you point us in the direction the correct direction?"  
"I could give you a lift if you want, you caught me just as I was getting ready to head out there"  
"A lift?" Deanna asked.  
The guy could tell from Deanna’s accent that she was not from this country, he didn’t mind explaining certain things to her. "Giving you a lift means taking you with me to this place"  
"Me and my brother, right?" Deanna asked.  
"Your brother?"  
"Yeah" Deanna said pointing to Sam who wasn't far behind her.  
"Oh" the guy looked at Sam, who was tall but also looked hesitant and skittish, not a problem. "Yeah, of course"  
"Great! Thanks"  
"Sure thing. Come with me"  
Deanna grabbed Sam hand since he looked scared and unsure and dragged him along. The siblings followed the man to his hotel as he checked out and then hopped in his car and started their journey.  
"So, what's your name?" Deanna asked.  
"My name is Andy, what are your names?" Andy asked the two, more so Deanna because she was hot and sitting in the front seat with him.  
"Um" Deanna had to translate her name from Enochian to English before she said "Deanna"  
"Deanna, lovely name"  
"Thank you. Why are you headed to Sacramento, CA?"  
"You don't have to say the CA part, you can just say Sacramento, and I live there"  
"Oh. Okay. Is there a lot of water in Sacramento? Is it close to the ocean?" Deanna asked.  
"There's water, it's not really that close to the ocean"  
"Oh. That's disappointing" Deanna frowned. Having the circus close to ocean would be ideal, especially for the siblings first one land mission but none of their missions were ever easy, this one included.  
"Why is that?"  
"I like the ocean"  
"What's so fascinating to you about the ocean?"  
"It vast and endless, so much of it has still not yet been explored by humans. Who knows what lies in the deep? What is yet to be discovered and what may never be found?"  
"You're an interesting woman, Deanna"  
"Thanks"  
"What about you quiet boy? What's your name?"  
Sam took a minute also trying to recall what his name would translate to. "Samuel"  
"Sammy, what a cutie. Why so quiet?"  
"I don't have anything to say and don't call me Sammy"  
Deanna shook her hand. "Don't mind, Sammy, we're just very new to this whole country, like a fish out of water" Sam did not find his sisters fish jokes and constant talk about the ocean amusing, so much for blending in.  
"Where are you two visiting from?"  
"The mid pacific"  
"Like Hawaii or something?"  
Deanna was about to open her mouth to reply when Sam asked "You ever been a circus before?"  
"Circus? Yeah. I was at one last night"  
"We're going to the circus" Deanna replied. "That's why we're traveling up to Sacramento, CA- I mean just Sacramento"  
"What circus are you guys going to see? Hell's?"  
"That's the one!"  
"You'll enjoy it, it was pretty wild"  
"Awesome"  
"Where did you hear about it?"  
"The newspaper. Sam read about it"  
"Oh nice, yeah I'm sure you're gonna love it"  
"I really hope so" Deanna replied.  
"Are you two enjoying your trip to mainland America so far?"  
"Yeah, I feel it's very different but we're are blending in quite well"  
"Except for the way you talk. You sound like you're struggling to communicate"  
"Well, this isn't my first language"  
"What's your first language?"  
"You ask a lot of questions" Sam interrupted.  
"Last time I checked, I'm driving you and your sister to Sacramento, I'm asking questions because I don't know either of you"  
"We don't know you either" Sam replied  
"Do you want to ask me questions? Go ahead, I'm an open book"  
"You always live in America?" Deanna asked.  
"Yeah. Born and raised"  
"So, you would be able to give us tips on how to blend in?"  
"You two do fit in, the only problems you have is that you talk too properly"  
"It's possible to talk too properly?"  
"Yeah, and you two do that because you don't speak this language well"  
"Are we almost at Sacramento?" Sam asked.  
"No, and it's gonna take longer to get there than anticipated" Andy said as they drove into traffic on the highway.  
"It is?"  
"Yeah, this traffic looks pretty bad"  
"Are we going to make it to the circus?" Deanna asked.  
"I don't think you are, not with traffic this bad"  
"Can we walk to Sacramento from here?"  
"I mean, technically, you could, but it would take even longer than driving in this traffic"  
After a few hours of driving and even more of being stuck in traffic Andy got off at an exit, but not one that would lead to Sacramento. “I’m taking a break for tonight. Getting some food and getting a room in a motel before hitting the road bright an early tomorrow morning. You guys can join, or not, it’s up to you. I will say, you probably won’t make it to the circus.  
Deanna got out of the car and turned to Sam as Andy walked away to buy a motel room for the night. "What do you think we should do?"  
"I think we should stay with this human, he seems to know what he's talking about" Sam told his sister, watching the guy carefully. Even if they didn’t make the show in Sacramento, they had to keep heading in that direction.  
"I'm glad you think so cause that exactly what we were going to do anyway"  
"Then why did you even ask me?"  
Deanna shrugged. "Now, we should probably go purchase a room" Deanna said. She pulled a wallet from her pocket, she stole from some guy on the street without him noticing. She pulled out green paper bills. "This seems the be the human’s currency"  
"That's a weird currency. Okay, let's go get a room to sleep"  
Deanna bought herself and Sam a room, with slight difficulty, and then found the room, it happened to be next to Andy’s.  
Sam and Deanna got some food from a deli, Deanna wasn’t sure how but she managed to order to sandwiches, she took them back to the motel and gave one to Sam. They were awful. The siblings were used to eating fish and algae (like kelp and seaweed). Still, they were hungry and needed something, so they eat their sandwiches and got a good night's rest.


	2. Chapter 2

In the morning they decided to skip breakfast and hit the road.  
"Are all the roads like this?" Deanna asked.  
"Around here, yeah. There's a lot of traffic" Andy replied then asked. "Where are you guys headed after Sacramento?"  
"Not sure yet"  
"Well wherever you're going I hope you get there alright"  
"Thanks, Andy"  
"No problem, Deanna"

It took a while, but the group finally arrived in Sacramento. Andy dropped the off on the main avenue near his house. "Thanks for the lift, Andy" Deanna said.  
"No problem, Deanna. Hope you and Sammy here get to see the show.” Andy drove off to go home and the siblings headed off to find the Circus.  
"Did it happen to tell you where in Sacramento the circus is?"  
"No. But we can ask someone"  
"Alright" Deanna tapped someone on the shoulder like she did before. "Hello"  
"Hello" the woman said with a smile "may I help you?"  
"Would you happen to know the way to Hell's Circus?"  
"Yeah, it's in the county center, about 20 blocks that way" the lady said, pointing north.  
"Thank you so much!"  
"No problem!"  
Deanna and Sam started to head in the direction the woman pointed but she was careful not to run because she just learned to how to walk yesterday, she wasn't up for running. They got to the center where the circus was supposed to be, and when they got there the people weren't there. It looked like they had never been there, they missed the show!  
"Shit! It's gone, it's all gone!"  
"Look! There's a paper for the show!" Sam said and then he ran and grabbed it. It had all the dates and cities on it "it has where they are going next, but what do these numbers mean?"  
". . . We can figure that out later, what's the next place?"  
"Portland, OR"  
"Great. Where's that?"

"We have arrived in Portland, Oregon. You can pick up your luggage at baggage Claim 3" Gabriel Milton heard the pilots voice over the planes intercom as he stood up and stretched, hoping this wasn't a wasted trip. 24 hours ago, Gabriel was in a room with posters of diagrams and charts on marine mammals covering on the walls, books cases filled with books of various sizes, each on marine life and environments. Gabriel himself with in the middle of the room, hunched over his desk, working. Gabriel was a marine biologist that had been working on the islands of French Polynesia. That was until he got a call from Anna Milton, his sister, saying he had to meet her in Oregon, even if it was a 17 hours flight, she wouldn't go into detail, but she did say it would be crucial too his work, she insisted, how could Gabriel say no? He got his baggage and met Anna at a hotel, since neither lived in Oregon. "Now will you tell me what crucial discovery I'm about to make here that was so important I had to drop everything and book the first flight I could?"  
"Okay, this is going to sound crazy to you at first, but you need to hear me out. There's this circus in town-"  
"A circus, Anna? Really?"  
"Shut up! Let me finish. It's a traveling one called Hell's Circus, and their newest attraction debuting tonight is a mermaid"  
"A mermaid? You called me out to Oregon for a mermaid?! Anna it's a hoax!"  
"I saw her myself, it's real. I saw the show yesterday and got lost on my way out and stumbled upon the tent. I was promptly forced out and threatened but I saw her. She was real, and you need to meet her"  
"Uh-huh. And how many drinks did you have before going to this circus?"  
"Gabriel!"  
Gabriel sighed. "Fine. I traveled all the way out here, might as well go to the circus but, only so I can show you that it's just a woman in costume!"  
"Yeah, and you'll see that she's real" Anna assured him. The two went and got their tickets to the show and got good seats, really close to the action.  
Gabriel watched the show, it was amusing enough, but all he wanted to see was the circus's main attraction. The so-called real mermaid. She was the last act. She was in a large tank of water in the middle of the circus her webbed hands pressed against the glass. Gabriel could see how someone might be fooled, the amount of detail put into not just the scaly tail (as there didn’t seem to be a seam where the skin met tail) but the gills on her waist and the way her skin (especially on her fingers) never seemed to wrinkle though she had been in the water for a very long time, it was impressive. However, it was a fake. Gabriel couldn't prove it to Anna right now. He would need to sneak back stage after the show. Another woman came out with the mermaid, Gabriel recognized her as the animal tamer from earlier. Meg.

Over the past two days Meg had managed to gain Castielle full trust. She really liked Meg and understood that the training was necessary per that mean man's orders, and she understood a few human words like "Yes" and "No" and "Stop" and that was about as much as the two needed to communicate what Castielle was able to do at this given time. She watched Meg carefully for her cues on what to do, and once Meg cracked her whip she knew it was time to really start listening. Meg started making some hand gestures and Castielle followed what she remembered. She swam around the tank at top speed before she soared up and out of the top as high as she could go before diving back down into the tank and fixing her position to wait for another cue. The next one came, and Castielle swam up and got onto the diving board placed on the side of her tank and sat on it before flicking her fin around quickly in a sort of wave at the audience, and then dove back in. The final trick she had learned for tonight (since they had only been together two days) Meg signaled and Castielle took off swimming as fast as she could. Again, she had to leap up out of the tank and spin around in circles so water would go flying everywhere, but with the way they positioned the light for this act the water looked like sparkles and magic flying off of her before she fell back in. Meg took a bow, Castielle mimicked her, and they took Castielle backstage, the crowd roaring with cheers and applause.  
"Told you it was a real mermaid" Anna said.  
Although the 'mermaid' did swim really fast, especially for a human, Gabriel wasn't convinced. "I'll meet you back at the hotel, Anna" Gabriel said getting up.  
"Don't get yourself into any trouble, okay? Be careful" Anna warned before she left.  
Gabriel smirked. He may be a professional Marine Biologist now but when he was a kid he was a huge Trickster, and even now, as Gabriel would say 'you can't take the trick out of the Trickster' he was still able to easily pass by the people who guarded backstage and found the mermaids tank she was still in there. Meg was in there with her so Gabriel hid and listened. Meg was sitting on the diving board and Castielle was holding onto the end of it, looking up to Meg who was gently stroking Castielle's hair. "I'm proud of you, little mermaid. You did so well tonight. I know you can't really understand me, but you did very good" Meg told her gently.  
"Yes?" Castielle asked her, she could see Meg was smiling and being very nice, but she had to make sure it was good.  
"Yes, little mermaid, yes" Meg responded "I'm gonna go grab something to eat and I'll bring you back. . . sushi, I’m guessing you must like fish”  
"Eat?"  
"Yes, eat" Meg mimed eating to Castielle, and when Castielle realized she smiled brightly.  
"Eat!!"  
"I'll be back" Meg said and left, leaving that part of the tent empty except for the mermaid swimming around in her tank.  
"Hmm" Gabriel approached the tank. "I've never seen an actress more dedicated to her part"  
Castielle looked at Gabriel with terror and backed away to the other side of the tank. She had never seen him before and she only trusted Meg up here.  
"You don't have to be scared" Gabriel said approaching more slowly, the closer he got the more the woman looked like an actual mermaid.  
"Stop!" Cassie said loudly, her voice conveying how scared she was "No!"  
Gabriel didn't stop. "Why? Cause you’re a fake?"  
Cassidy sunk down into the tank, now hiding in the bottom corner.  
Gabriel was at the tank now. It wasn’t hard to believe that this woman was a mermaid. The skin and the scales just seem to seamlessly flow, and the gills seemed to move ever so slightly matching her above water breaths. Gabriel observed her getting as close as she would allow. "This is amazing. An actual mermaid" Gabriel breathed.  
Castielle was very scared with how close this strange man was, the way he was looking at her, and she was trying desperately to recall the nice lady's name, because she was scared he was going to hurt her. What was her name? What did she say her name was?! "Meg!" Castielle had to pop up out of the water so she could be heard as she shouted "Meg!"  
"Shh! Shh!" Gabriel shushed quietly in response to the mermaids yelling. "I'm not going to hurt you, I'm nice"  
Castielle watched him carefully for a moment, he didn't seem like he was being mean, he just looked like he wanted to talk to her or something nice. "Castielle"  
"Castielle? That must be your name, interesting." Gabriel could tell from Castielle's conversation with Meg that she did not understand much English. "My name is Gabriel"  
"Gabriel?"  
"Yes! That's my name!"  
Castielle thought about it for a moment and nodded "Gabriel" she reaffirmed and then waved at him in a hello.  
Gabriel waved back smiling.  
Castielle cautiously swam across the tank to be near Gabriel and smiled down at him from the edge of her tank. "Hello"  
"Hello" Gabriel said excited "What else do you know how to say?”  
Castielle was confused by his question as she did not know enough English to understand what he was saying instead she started talking in her native language, enochian.  
"Interesting.” Gabriel said realizing what she was doing. “It's certainly not any human language, and that accent you have doesn't match any part of the world either." Gabriel observed. He was about to continue but he could hear footsteps approaching. "I have to go" he whispered, "but I will see you again."  
"Bye" Castielle said, waving at Gabriel as he left. Meg walked into the tent with Castielle's food, a little confused.  
"Little mermaid, who were you talking to?" Meg asked as she resumed her spot on the diving board.  
"Gabriel" Castielle answered, swimming back to the board to that Meg could rub her hair again.  
"Gabriel? Who's Gabriel? He's not part of the circus"  
"No?"  
"No"  
Castielle got very sad, she assumed Meg was mad at her. She slipped back from the board. "No"  
Meg left Castielle's food on the diving board and went to find this Gabriel, if he was still on the premises. Gabriel was currently walking away from the tent, sticking out like a sore thumb from all the rest of the people around him. "Hey! Gabriel get over here" Meg shouted. Gabriel did start running and attempted to get away, but Meg was faster and caught up to him. "Hey, hi, I think you have the wrong guy" Gabriel said nervously.  
"Your name is Gabriel, I don't have the wrong guy"  
"Yes, you do, my name is Richard"  
"What were you doing in my mermaid tent?"  
"I wasn't-"  
"Cut the shit. If I ever catch you around backstage at this circus again, or if you come anywhere near my little mermaid, there will be hell to pay" Meg threatened.  
"Whatever you say," Gabriel replied walking away.  
"I mean it!" Meg shouted after him "stay away!"  
Meg turned and went back to the tent to find Castielle sitting on the board eating her dinner waiting patiently for Meg to return. Even if this whole situation sucked Meg was nice to her and she liked it when Meg sat in the tent with her at dinner time.  
"I'm back" Meg said sitting down on the board smiling.

For the rest of the night Gabriel couldn't stop thinking about the mermaid. He got up in the middle of the night and started to pack his bag. They had a mermaid, an honest to god mermaid, and they had her doing tricks! She should be given to scientists, for example himself. Once she learned English think off all the things she could tell them about the ocean! Not to mention the anatomy and bone structure of this new species! It was all very exciting. After he finished packing, he looked up hotels in the next city Seattle, Washington.


	3. Chapter 3

City after city, show after show, Gabriel followed the circus and always got just a few minutes with Castielle after every performance. There was always a 10-minute slot where Meg would go get food for her and Castielle after the shows and Gabriel always took full advantage of the time to talk to Castielle and know more. Castielle was slowly getting more and more of an understanding of the English language the more they traveled, and the more Meg and Gabriel talked to her, the more she was able to talk back as she picked up more words, even phrases.

The circus did a few more shows on the west coast but they were finally able to book a show in Los Angeles. Gabriel heard this while he was leaving knew he had to get Castielle out of the tank before then. A little Indie circus bringing a mermaid to cities like Los Angeles, New York City, or Chicago meant people would know this mermaid was legit after people, not just a trick like Gabriel thought, because the media would be on the circus trying to out this mermaid as a fraud and when they couldn't. . . Well, the circus was not a good place for people to find out about scientific discoveries. The only problem was: How do you get a mermaid from a circus to your house without anyone noticing? She couldn't walk!

Meanwhile, Sam and Deanna were finally catching up to these shows and while the show was being held up while they prepared for their big show in LA they were staying stationary for a week. This time they weren't going to miss the show and they were finally going to be able to get her. "Okay, what are we going to do?" Deanna asked her brother as they stood across from the show.  
"Get Castielle back" Sam told her.  
"Okay, yes. How?"  
“Well, we gotta be careful, this place reeks of humans so there are a lot of them around”  
“Duh”  
"We must sneak and find the place where they're holding her"  
"Again, duh"  
"Will you stop being such a bitch?"  
"Look I'll be as much of a bitch as I want to. I've been getting us around to these cities with disgusting humans who want me for sex, I don't see you getting us anywhere, so fuck you"  
"Just follow me"  
"Where are we going? Do you have a plan?"  
"We're going to be sneaky, it's what we're best at"  
"Good plan" Deanna replied sarcastically. "How long did it take you to come up with that genius?"  
"I should have moved in with Jess" Sam muttered.  
"Hmm? Did you say something?"  
"Nothing. Let's go find Cas"  
Deanna nodded. "Yeah"

The pair snuck around the tents to find Castielle, and finally they peeked into a tent and found a huge tank. The room was empty, and as they moved closer to the tank to investigate, they found a beautiful mermaid floating on top of the water, eyes closed and just moving her hands to splash the water. "Castielle?" Sam asked.   
Castielle opened her eyes quickly and looked at the two people in front of her in confusion. They weren't normal people, maybe they were from her world? "Who are you?" Castielle asked in Enochian.  
"My name is Deanna" Deanna replied in Enochian. "Your mother hired us to find you and bring you back”  
Castielle perked up immediately, smiling brighter than she had in a long time. "Oh, I knew she would have me saved! Thank you so much! How are you going to get me out of here?"  
"Well, we have a potion from our mother the sea witch, so you can walk out of here" Sam replied, taking it out of his bag, along with some clothes he and Deanna picked up for Castielle.  
"Walk? Is that what the thing Meg does is called?"  
Deanna was about to reply when another voice spoke out.  
"You don't work here!" Gabriel said running over, he knew the circuses entire cast of characters by now. "What are you saying to Cas!?"  
"Who is this?" Deanna asked in Enochian, pulling out a knife and ready to kill Gabriel, if need be.  
"Woah, woah! Calm down, what's going on?" Gabriel asked, taking a step back upon seeing the knife.  
"Don't hurt him!" Castielle told Deanna "he's a friend, his name is Gabriel, he's a scientist. He wants to help me too"  
"Scientist? How do you know he doesn't want to just cut you open?" Deanna asked not lowering her blade or taking her eyes off Gabriel.  
"Uh, Cas? Can you tell me who these people are?" Gabriel asked, not able to understand a word of enochian. "Are they mermaids like you?"  
"Not mermaids" Castielle replied in English. “Sirens, they save me”  
"You mean take you back?"   
"Yes! This is good”  
"How?"  
“I drink that” Castielle pointed to the jar Sam was holding, Castielle had not yet used to word for poition but Gabriel knew it was.  
"Is that like a potion?" Gabriel asked stepping forward. "Are species out there that are magic?"  
"Yes, magic! Magic ‘creatures’ are so lovely " Castielle only used to word creatures because human used it so much, she learned what it meant.  
"Can you tell me more about them?" Gabriel asked, moving forward again.  
"No, she can't" Deanna said taking a step forward, it was clear Deanna was fluent in English. "You will keep any and all information you learned tonight to yourself, got it!?"  
"I can't do that. For the sake of science, I need to use this information" Gabriel said.  
Deanna ran over grabbed him and pushed him against the nearest wall, knife to his throat. "This is your last warning, Gabriel"  
"No! Don’t hurt" Castielle shouted, now very distressed, she didn't want he friend to get hurt! "Let go!"  
"He's a danger to all of us, the only reason no one bothers us is because sirens make sure anyone who has even seen a mermaid never makes it to shore" Deanna replied in Enochian. "I have to do this, Castielle"  
"Let me talk to him, see if I can convince him. He's my friend and he has a life and a sister who loves him dearly, let me see if I can get him to take all of that into account. If I can't, I will not stand in your way" Castielle pleaded with Deanna   
"Fine!" Deanna pulled the knife away from Gabriel’s neck but kept him pressed against the wall while Sam gave the potion and some extra clothes to Castielle. When Castielle took the potion she started leaning a lot on Sam, the feeling of gravity and standing still new to her. Sam helped her over to Gabriela and Deanna and also translated every word she spoke from enochian into English "Gabriel, I'm sorry, but you cannot talk about anything you've seen or heard since you met me. Sam and Deanna, bring sirens, are the protectors of mermaids and the secrets of the sea. If you cannot agree to keep silent, Deanna has no choice but to kill you, and I can't stop her. I beg of you, please reconsider what you're going to do"  
"But I have been a marine biologist for year, studying and searching for something, anything, and I now I have you, you're perfect. I want to study you, talk to you, write down everything you know. You and I could have the world, marine biology would never be the same after this." Gabriel replied.  
"I'm sorry, I have had such a wonderful time talking to you while I was trapped here, but if people know mermaids are really real, we'll be hunted just like humans hunt the fish. They'll find a way down to us and capture us and treat us like pets and creatures, we'll never be able to live in peace again. I can't let you ruin our way of life, so I reiterate, you must agree to never speak a word about mermaids, sirens, or sea witches, or I cannot stop Deanna from killing you to preserve what we have"  
Gabriel was hesitant but eventually nodded. "Alright. I promise I'll keep all this a secret, Cas"  
"Do you really promise or are you telling me a lie?"  
"I really promise, Castielle, you can trust me"  
Castielle smiled, having a translator was nice, made it a lot easier to talk to Gabriel. "Would you happen to have a pen and paper? I would like to leave a note for Meg. I know I cannot say goodbye to her but she was so good to me while I was here" Sam continued to translate for Castielle  
"Yeah. In my car, I'll just run out a get it"  
"Thank you so much!"  
Gabriel always had a notebook on him, especially since knowing Castielle, he wrote down everything she had said and everything he learned about her but it seemed like he wouldn't be needing it anymore. He took a pen and ripped an unused piece of paper out of the notebook than ran back and gave it to Castielle who had not left despite Deanna's urging. Gabriel tried to hand Castielle the pen and paper but she shook her head “You write, I and Sam speak” Mermaids did have their own way of leaving notes but it did not involve pen and paper. The three listened to Castielle as she crafted a thoughtful note to Meg thanking her for being the only good thing about traveling with the circus, and thanking her for being so sweet and gentle. However, it was time for her to leave and return home, and she would miss Meg Masters dearly. "Okay, I'm done. Where should I leave this note?" Castielle asked.  
"I'll put it down" Sam said, taking the note and placing it on a nearby table for Meg to see before they helped Castielle escape through the back of the tent. Gabriel and Deanna running but Sam having to carry Castielle because waiting for her to learn how to walk would take too long.  
"We need you to help us with your car" Deanna told Gabriel.  
"What?"  
"Your car, we need you to lift us"  
"Life you where?"  
"The nearest way to the ocean"  
"Are you crazy?!"  
"Castielles potion wears off in 8 hours and we don't know how to get there! Gabriel help us!"  
"Fine" Gabriel agreed. "But you’re sitting the back and no longer pointing a knife at my neck! It's going to be long ass ride to the beach cause we're pretty far inland."  
"Okay, agreed" Deanna nodded. They put Castielle in the front of the car and the siblings sat in the back before they got going, not realizing there was a car railing them the whole way out toward the beach.


	4. Chapter 4

When they got to the beach everyone jumped out of the car, Sam and Deanna, who was now carrying Castielle, raced down towards the water. The potion gave them legs but didn't take away their gills so they could start heading home, being able to breath under the water. Gabriel followed behind them, just to make sure they all got to the water safely. Just before they got to the water, they heard a voice behind them. "Stop right there!" They all turned around to find Meg standing there pointing a gun at them, desperate time call for desperate measures, she wasn’t going to let Castielle disappear forever. "I believe you have something that belongs to me!"  
"Woah, woah, why don't you just the put the gun down?" Gabriel asked while Deanna dropped Castielle legs, letting her stand on her feet and handed her off to Sam who slowly helped her down the water.  
"Hey! You with the mermaid, stop or I'll shoot you dead right now" Meg said, firing off a warning shot, causing everyone to jump and look at her. "M-Meg? Meg, why this?" Castielle asked, very sad that Meg was doing this to her.  
Sam stopping moving but stood in front of Castielle. "Because, Castielle, you can't leave" Meg replied. "The circus needs you, I need you"  
"I need mom and home. You need let me go" Castielle told her, wishing she knew more English and could tell her how much she really needed to get back to her heartbroken mother and the security of a city protected by sirens. She was also scared that Meg would going to hurt the two sirens and the human that were trying so desperately to protect her.  
Meg shook her head. "No, Cas, I- I can't do that"  
"Please, let me go home."  
Meg looked carefully at Castielle, her face was pleading and part of her wanted to let her leave and another part of her wanted to hang onto her, not just because of the circus but because she had never met anyone like Castielle. Never met anyone she connected with like Castielle. She wanted her. "No. Cas, I can't, I jus- AHH!" Meg fell to sandy ground her gun going off as it fell from her grip. It didn't hit anyone but it made a loud sound. The four who were on the beach had to leave immediately because Meg was dead. She was stabbed in the back, through to her heart.  
"MEG!!" Castielle shouted, starting to cry. She tried to go to her, but her lack of practice walking and Sam’s hold of her as he carried to the water made that impossible.  
"Castielle you can't. You must let her go. You have to go!" Sam told her in enochian, trying to calm her down as she thrashed in his arms.  
"NO! Meg didn't deserve this! Meg was good! She was good!"  
"Castielle shut up, we have to get you home!" Deanna told Castielle as the siblings carried her in deeper. The sympathetic of the two siblings. "Thank you for your help, Gabriel"  
"Get her back safe" Gabriel told them, watching as they disappeared into the water before leaving the beach as quickly as possible.

Gabriel made sure he was on the first plane back to French Polynesia, he had to go back to work since his trip to America ended in murder rather than a discovery. When he got back, he didn't get rid of the note book titled Castielle, but he did hide in the bottom drawer of his desk hidden under pages of old articles he'd written about his work.

One day he decided to take a break and walk out onto his backyard which he didn't do often. You see, Gabriel was a little odd in the fact that he was fascinated with aquatic life and was terrified of the ocean. Although, he had a good reason to be. When Gabriel was about 7 years old he went fishing with his sister and father, but Gabriel wasn't doing much fishing. In the distance he could see a large tail fin of a fish that was swimming near the surface of the ocean. He wanted to get a closer look at what fish was brave enough to swim so close to the surface especially with people fishing nearby. Gabriel leaned out over the side of the boat carefully but lost his balance and fell in. Not knowing how to swim Gabriel panicked when he hit the water and immediately got disoriented. He doesn't remember much of what happened after that, his father said the memory was probably so traumatic he blocked it out. All he did remember was being on deck, his throat burning as he coughed up salt water. The experience was enough to make him never want to go near the ocean again but not enough to kill his fascination of aquatic life. He just opted for arranging ocean expeditions rather than going on them. However, today was different he had been through so much the past week or so he felt like maybe he should try and step out of his comfort zone. He walked out his backdoor, through his backyard and along the small path that led right out onto the beach. He walked along until he reached a small pier. He carefully walked along the pier and sat down at the end of it. His legs dangling off the end and toes brushing the water, he was far out of his comfort zone right now, but he couldn't really seem to care, not with Castielle, Deanna, Sam and even Meg on his mind all the time, going over all the events that had happened. How everything would be different if he had gone out on the water and found a mermaid, found Castielle.  
“Boo!”  
“Ah!” Gabriel screamed and jumped up onto the dock when Castielle popped out of the water scaring him. She looked so different than when he first saw her in the tank, all dolled up by those who worked in the circus, now she looked more natural. “What? Cas? But how?”  
“This is yours” Castielle said her webbed hand holding a small card out to him.  
Gabriel sat back down and took the card from her. It was his drivers license. “How did you?”  
“Deanna”  
“That makes more since but why?”  
_She took her map from home, it’s different from human maps in multiple ways and using that thing with your address to mark where you lived relative from where our city is, that way she’d know where to find you if needed. _Castielle shrugged. “I don’t know, I do know she was just going to get rid of it but I suggested returning it you, so she lead me to where you live and we just swam around till we found out, lucky that there’s not many humans around.”__  
“Well, usually at this time kids are in school and people are at work, so it’s the ideal time for me to take a walk and clear my head before my vacations days are up and I go back to work”  
“Well, I have to go back home now. My mother will be worried about me if I’m gone too long but I’ll see you again”  
“Same time, same pier?”  
“Of course!”


End file.
